A Deep Dive: The Plough and the Stars
Learn more about Druid Theatre’s October 2023 production of The Plough and the Stars, part of Sean O’Casey’s Dublin Trilogy.
Characters & Cast
Tenement Residents
Jack Clitheroe, a bricklayer and former member of the Irish Citizen Army // Liam Heslin
Nora Clitheroe, his wife // Sophie Lenglinger
Peter Flynn (a laborer), Nora’s uncle // Bosco Hogan
The Young Covey, a fitter, ardent socialist, and Jack’s cousin // Marty Rea
Bessie Burgess, a street fruit vendor // Hilda Fay
Mrs. Gogan, a charwoman (housecleaner) // Sarah Morris
Mollser, her consumptive child // Tara Cush
Fluther Good, a carpenter // Aaron Monaghan
Other Characters
Lieutenant Langon, of the Irish Volunteers // Gabriel Adewusi
Captain Brennan, of the Irish Citizen Army // Garrett Lombard
Corporal Stoddart, of the British Army’s Wiltshire division // Robbie O’Connor
Sergeant Tinley, of the British Army’s Wiltshire division // Sean Kearns
Rosie Redmond, a prostitute // Anna Healy
A Bartender // Sean Kearns
A Woman // Catherine Walsh
A Figure in the Window // Robbie O’Connor
Act II (Later that evening). The setting is the interior of a pub near the location of a political rally. Rosie complains to the bartender that the meeting is bad for business, while Peter Flynn, Fluther Good, and Young Covey come in and leave again for quick drinks during the speeches. Jack, Lieutenant Langon, and Captain Brennan carry the Plough and the Stars flag, a green, white, and orange tricolor; they are moved by the speeches and determined to fight for Ireland, regardless of the circumstances.
Act III (Easter Week 1916). Mrs. Gogan worries about the health of her daughter, Mollser, who is sick with tuberculosis. Residents in the tenement discuss the fighting that has started in response to a proclamation of Irish independence. Nora is frantically searching for Jack, and when he appears with a wounded rebel soldier, tries to convince him to leave the fight and stay with her. Jack ignores her pleas and leaves with his comrades.
Act IV (A few days later). Mollser has died, and Nora is increasingly delirious searching for Jack. Disillusionment and tragedy from the failed rebellion affect everyone in the tenement, with the struggle for independence juxtaposed with the human cost and personal sacrifices made by ordinary people.
There is one intermission between Acts II and III.
Glossary
Easter Rising of 1916: The setting for The Plough and the Stars. For information, read A Crash Course in the Irish Revolutionary Period.
Irish Citizen Army (ICA): a well-organized paramilitary socialist organization made up of trained volunteers from the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union. Originally formed in 1913 to protect trade union workers during labor strikes, the ICA became a revolutionary army, participating in the Easter Rising of 1916 and in the War of Independence in 1921. Sean O’Casey was very involved in the ICA’s early years, but he withdrew in 1914, criticizing the group for wavering in its socialist mission under James Connolly’s leadership. In The Plough and the Stars, Jack Clitheroe is a Commandant in the ICA.
The Plough and the Stars (Flag): The title of this play references the flag of the Irish Citizen Army, sometimes called the “Starry Plough.” The flag depicts the constellation Ursa Major (the Big Dipper, called “The Plough” in Ireland) over a plough on a green flag. It symbolized a free Ireland that would control its own destiny by controlling its means of production… “from the plough to the stars.”
Tricolor Flag of Ireland: During the Easter Rising, the Irish tricolor flag was flown as well as the Starry Plough; it began to be seen as the national flag when it was raised above Dublin’s General Post Office by the revolutionaries, and has been the official flag of Ireland since it gained independence. Its three colors signify a lasting truce (white) between the Catholics (green) and Protestants (orange).
General James (Jim) Connolly: a co-founder of the Irish Citizen Army (ICA) with James Larkin, Jim Connolly was an Irish republican and socialist leader. He was a leader of the Easter Rising and organized the ICA to join the fight. In The Plough and the Stars, Jack Clitheroe is an ICA Commandant under Connolly. After the rising, Connelly was executed by firing squad, despite the fact that he was already dying from wounds sustained during the fight. He was carried out on a stretcher and tied to a chair for the execution, a cruel act that turned public opinion against the British.
Irish Volunteers: The bulk of the revolutionary fighters during the Easter Rising belonged to the military arm of the Irish Republican Brotherhood known as the Irish Volunteers. They fought alongside the much smaller but better-organized ICA.
Dublin Fusiliers: An Irish infantry Regiment of the British Army that began in 1881 and continued until the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922. Irish soldiers who fought for the British in World War I were generally Dublin Fusiliers. In The Plough and the Stars, Bessie Burgess’s son is a member.
Tommies: a general term for British soldiers.
Orange: Mrs. Gogan refers to Bessie as “Orange,” meaning that she is a Protestant loyalist, a fact that would have been clear to Irish audiences at the time through contextual references to her hymn-singing, her support of the British in The Great War, and her mockery of her Catholic neighbors
Harp: The official emblem of Ireland; harps are a symbol of national pride and tradition.
Shinner: A pejorative term for a supporter of Sinn Féin, an Irish political party that supported the creation of an independent Irish Republic during the Easter Rising.
Production History
In 1926, The Abbey Theatre premiered The Plough and the Stars, the highly-anticipated third installment of what would become known as Sean O’Casey’s “Dublin Plays” or “Dublin Trilogy.” The first two plays, The Shadow of a Gunman (1923) and Juno and the Paycock (1924), had been unprecedented successes for both O’Casey and the Abbey. However, some people were becoming increasingly incensed by the themes in O’Casey’s works, particularly his skepticism towards Irish nationalism and his criticism of religion and its moral rigidity. With The Plough and the Stars, these objections reached a boiling point.
Unlike his earlier plays, which premiered either during or immediately after the conflicts in which they were set, The Plough and the Stars was set during The Easter Rising of 1916, ten years prior to its premiere. Over the course of those ten years, the revolutionaries who participated in the Rising had risen to hero and martyr status in Ireland. However, O’Casey chose to focus on the innocent victims of the conflict and to present Ireland as he saw it, refusing to shy away from criticism of nationalism, religion, or prudishness.
After a successful opening for The Plough and the Stars, controversy began to spread throughout Dublin and all subsequent performances were interrupted by demonstrators. Four days later, protests escalated to riots as the play was brought to a halt in the third act. A yelling, booing, and whistling crowd began to throw items at the stage, stink bombs were set off throughout the theater, and a group climbed on stage and began a fight with the actors. After police restored order, W.B. Yeats, then a Senator as well as Director of the Abbey, chastised the crowd from the stage.
Of course, there’s nothing like a riot to gain attention, and O’Casey’s fame began to spread far beyond Ireland. Simultaneously, O’Casey began to feel alienated from his homeland. O’Casey soon moved to England, where he remained in self-exile with his wife and family.
A Deep Dive: The Shadow of a Gunman
Learn more about Druid Theatre’s October 2023 production of The Shadow of a Gunman, part of Sean O’Casey’s Dublin Trilogy.
Characters & Cast
Tenement Residents
Donal Davoren, a poet // Marty Rea
Seumus Shields, a lazy peddler disillusioned by the Nationalist cause // Rory Nolan
Tommy Owens, a young man infatuated with the Nationalist cause // Robbie O’Connor
Adolphus Grigson, an alcoholic supporter of the Protestant cause // Sean Kearns
Mrs. Grigson, his wife // Catherine Walsh
Minnie Powell, a young woman // Caitríona Ennis
Other Characters
Mr. Mulligan, the landlord… // Lombard
Mr. Maguire, a soldier in the IRA // Liam Heslin
Mrs. Henderson, a resident in a neighboring tenement // Anna Healy
Mr. Gallogher, a resident in a neighboring tenement // Bosco Hogan
An Auxiliary (a soldier in the auxiliary division, which conducted counterinsurgency operations against the IRA) // Gabriel Adewusi
Glossary
The Irish War of Independence: (sometimes called the Anglo-Irish War or the Black and Tan War) was a deadly guerilla war fought throughout Ireland from January 21, 1919 – July 11, 1921. After years of political movements towards Irish independence, the Republican (separatist) party Sinn Feín won a landslide election and declared Irish independence from Great Britain. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) fought against British police and special forces known as the Black and Tans, who became infamous for cruel and brutal attacks against civilians. The war ended with the creation of the Irish Free State. The Shadow of a Gunman is set during this conflict.
Irish Republican Army (IRA): The IRA has existed in many forms throughout Irish history. The IRA referenced in The Shadow of a Gunman is often referred to as the “Old IRA” and is different from the anti-treaty IRA referenced in Juno and the Paycock or the Provisional IRA active during The Troubles from 1969-1998. During the Irish War of Independence, the IRA was recognized as the legitimate army of the Irish Republic. It was formed by volunteer Irish forces that supported the creation of an independent Irish nation. In The Shadow of a Gunman, Donal Davoren is suspected of being a high ranking member of the Old IRA.
Black and Tans: a special temporary police force made up primarily of unemployed World War I veterans who were sent to Ireland from May 1920 to early 1921 to support British police during the Irish War of Independence. With little training and minimal oversight by the British government, these forces became infamous for brutal attacks on Irish civilians, including the burning and sacking of many small Irish towns and villages. Their name comes from the mismatched uniforms worn by the first wave of recruits, a moniker that persisted even after they were issued the dark green uniforms.
Many of the terrible events attributed to “Black and Tans” have now been traced to other police units, but “black and tans” remains a catch-all term for violent British police during that time.
Curfew: During the Irish War of Independence, British police enforced a nightly curfew that ultimately ran from 8 pm to 5 am nightly in Dublin. Tenement residents would have been subjected to this curfew (and the accompanying cabin fever) in The Shadow of a Gunman.
Kathleen Ní Houlihan: a mythical symbol of Irish nationalism generally depicted as a poor old woman who enlists the help of young Irish men to fight and die to free Ireland from colonial rule. She is invoked often by Seumas Shields in The Shadow of a Gunman.
Dublin Tenements: a collection of buildings, typically mid-18th century aristocratic townhouses, that were adapted from the 1870s-1890s to house Dublin’s working poor. These opulent mid-city mansions were divided into up to 20 apartments, housing as many as 100 people per building. A single family usually shared a one-room flat, and bathrooms and water were shared by everyone in the building. Cramped conditions resulted in rampant disease and a high mortality rate; O’Casey himself lost eight siblings in infancy to croup. In the early 1910s, Dublin was notorious for some of the worst urban poverty in Europe, with approximately 20,000 families living in tenements. Tenement occupancy peaked in the 1910s, but it continued through the late 1970s. All three O’Casey Cycle plays are set in tenements with the exception of one act in The Plough and the Stars.
Orangemen: members of the Loyal Orange Institution — or Orange Order — a Protestant fraternal order with lodges throughout Ireland, but primarily in Northern Ireland. It is named in honor of the Protestant King William of Orange (William III), who defeated the army of Catholic King James II in 1691. During the Irish War of Independence, most members of the Orange Order were loyal to the crown and opposed to the creation of Ireland as an independent Catholic nation. In Act 2 of The Shadow of a Gunman, Mr. Grigson is a proud “Orange Man.”
Production History
After years of writing plays and submitting them to the Abbey Theater, Sean O’Casey’s fifth manuscript, The Shadow of a Gunman, was finally accepted in 1922. It premiered at The Abbey Theatre in 1923 to immediate success, selling out tickets for the first time in Abbey history, and establishing Sean O’Casey’s career as a playwright at age 43. O’Casey was working as a laborer during the play’s three-day run, which earned him just four pounds in royalties (approximately $300 today). He would continue to work as a cement mixer on a road repair job until the next year, when his second play, Juno and the Paycock, proved to be another resounding success. Together, The Shadow of a Gunman and Juno and the Paycock provided a financial boon for both the playwright and for The Abbey Theatre, which was at risk of bankruptcy before O’Casey’s arrival.
Set in 1920 during the Irish War for Independence, The Shadow of a Gunman premiered less than two years from the end of the war, when its effects and aftershocks were still being felt strongly throughout Ireland. O’Casey quickly followed this play with 1924’s Juno and the Paycock, set during the Irish Civil War in 1922, and 1926’s The Plough and the Stars, which was set during the Easter Rebellion of 1916, a major turning point of the Irish Revolutionary Period. These three works, often called The Dublin Trilogy, chronicle the birth of the Irish nation through the eyes of Dublin’s impoverished tenement residents.
Filled with “some of the most memorable characters of the Irish theater,” (The New York Times), this two-act work introduced O’Casey’s characteristic tragicomic style. Although it is widely considered a masterpiece, it is lesser-known and less frequently performed than the other two plays in the Dublin Trilogy.
A Deep Dive: Juno and the Paycock
Learn more about Druid Theatre’s October 2023 production of Juno and the Paycock, part of Sean O’Casey’s Dublin Trilogy.
Characters & Cast
Tenement Residents
“Captain” Jack Boyle, an unemployed ne’er-do-well // Rory Nolan
Juno Boyle, his wife // Hilda Fay
Johnny Boyle, their son, who was wounded in the Easter Rising and the Irish Civil War // Tommy Harris
Mary Boyle, their daughter // Zara Devlin
“Joxer” Daly, Jack Boyle’s best friend and drinking companion // Aaron Monaghan
Mrs. Maisie Madigan // Caitríona Ennis
“Needle” Nugent, a tailor // Marty Rea
Mrs. Tancred // Catherine Walsh
Other Characters
Jerry Devine, Mary’s boyfriend and a supporter of the Irish Republican cause // Gabriel Adewusi
Charles Bentham, a school teacher // Liam Heslin
An Irregular Mobilizer // Tara Cush
Two Irregulars // Robbie O’Connor and Marty Rea
A Coal-Block Vendor // Anna Healy
A Sewing Machine Man // Robbie O’Connor
Two Furniture Removal Men // Garrett Lombard and Sean Kearns
A Neighbor // Sarah Morris
Act II (a few days later). Jack has already begun to spend the anticipated inheritance, causing further deterioration in Juno’s relationship with Jack. The Boyles throw a party and invite Bentham, who is courting Mary after her breakup with Jerry, and Mrs. Maisie Madigan, a neighbor to whom Jack owes money. During the party, Robbie Tancred’s funeral procession passes the tenement, but the Boyles continue celebrating until his mother stops by. While Juno offers support to Mrs. Tancred, Jack ignores her suffering.
Act III (two months later). Bentham abandons Mary, who is pregnant with his child. Jack’s debts come due, with a variety of creditors demanding repayment and repossessing his new purchases. As Juno begs Jack to use the inheritance to move to a different city, he reveals that Bentham made an error in drafting the will, and they will receive nothing. Jack and Johnny both disown Mary, Johnny’s involvement with the anti-treaty forces catches up with him when the IRA takes him away, and Juno decides to leave Jack and to start a new life with Mary. Jack returns home from the pub, unaware that his family has fallen apart.
Glossary
Republicans (“Diehards”) vs. Free Staters: In Juno and the Paycock, set during the Irish Civil War (June 28, 1922 – May 24, 1923), the two warring sides are referred to as either Republicans or “Diehards” on one side, or “Free Staters” on the other. After the War of Independence, representatives of the Irish Republic signed The Anglo-Irish Treaty in December of 1921. The treaty compromised on the Republic’s stated goal of full independence by establishing the Irish Free State as a dominion of the British Commonwealth with its own government, army, and police force; it also allowed Northern Ireland to opt out of the Free State and remain part of the United Kingdom. For some Republicans who were fighting for full Irish independence, these terms were unacceptable. A deep schism developed between Irish political leaders and revolutionaries, turning former allies in the Republican movement into two new segments: pro-treaty Nationalists, or “Free Staters,” and anti-treaty Republicans, or “Diehards.”
Irish Republican Army (IRA): The IRA has existed in many forms throughout Irish history. During the Irish War of Independence (depicted in The Shadow of a Gunman), the IRA was recognized by the Irish Republic as its legitimate army, and they fought for the creation of an independent Irish nation; the IRA from this period is sometimes called the “Old IRA.” In the time of Juno and the Paycock, set during the Irish Civil War, the IRA had split into two factions: pro and anti-treaty. Soldiers with the anti-treaty faction, sometimes referred to as “Irregulars,” continued to use the IRA name, while pro-treaty forces began to represent the new Free State government as the National Army. The anti-treaty IRA of this period is a precursor to the Provisional IRA active during The Troubles from 1969-1998. In Juno and the Paycock, Johnny Boyle was active with the Old IRA, but is avoiding active duty with the new IRA.
Dublin Tenements: a collection of buildings, typically mid-18th century aristocratic townhouses, that were adapted from the 1870s-1890s to house Dublin’s working poor. These opulent mid-city mansions were divided into up to 20 apartments, housing as many as 100 people per building. A single family usually shared a one-room flat, and bathrooms and water were shared by everyone in the building. Cramped conditions resulted in rampant disease and a high mortality rate; O’Casey himself lost eight siblings in infancy to croup. In the early 1910s, Dublin was notorious for some of the worst urban poverty in Europe, with approximately 20,000 families living in tenements. Tenement occupancy peaked in the 1910s, but it continued through the late 1970s. All three O’Casey Cycle plays are set in tenements with the exception of one act in The Plough and the Stars.
Trades Union Strike (The Postal Strike of 1922): In Juno and the Paycock, Mary Boyle and Jerry Devine are involved in The Postal Strike of 1922, referenced in their talk of Trades Unions and labor. Taking place from September 9-29, 1922, at the height of the Irish Civil War, this strike caused significant political problems for the newly formed Irish Free State. Labor organizing and general strikes had been a powerful part of the Irish Republican movement for over a decade, but this particular dispute pitted the postal union against the fledgling Free State and its police forces rather than the British government or independent companies.
C.I.D. (Criminal Investigation Department): an armed police unit organized by the Irish Free State to investigate and suppress the anti-treaty IRA. They were criticized for their forceful interrogation techniques, and after the Irish Civil War, they were disbanded. In Act II of Juno and the Paycock, Juno complains that they have been holding investigations in the Boyles’ tenement.
Charles Stewart Parnell (1846-1891): an Irish Nationalist politician who organized the early Home Rule movement. He is celebrated as one of Ireland’s most important political leaders, and many historians believe he could have achieved Home Rule peacefully were he not forced out of office due to a scandal over his long-running affair with a married woman. Her divorce proceedings brought the affair to light, and objections from both the Catholic leadership of Ireland and English liberals in Parliament ended his political career.
’47: Shorthand for 1847, the worst year of the Great Famine, which resulted in the death of more than one million Irish people and the emigration of a million more. “Captain” Jack Boyle references it in Act II.
Fenians: members of the Fenian Brotherhood and Irish Republican Brotherhood, two organizations instrumental in building the Republican movement in the turn of the 20th century.
St. Anthony: (St. Anthony of Padua) the patron saint of lost things known for his devotion to the poor and the sick. In Juno and the Paycock, the Boyle family lights a candle to him in the off-stage room.
St. Brigid: (St. Brigid of Kildare or Brigid of Ireland) one of Ireland’s patron saints along with St. Patrick. “Captain” Boyle evokes her name at the end of Act I.
Chassis: Captain Jack Boyle’s word meaning, approximately, “chaos”
Production History
Juno and the Paycock premiered at The Abbey Theatre in 1924, just one year after Sean O’Casey’s debut play, The Shadow of a Gunman, became The Abbey’s first sold out production. O’Casey immediately surpassed his earlier success with Juno and the Paycock, which was extended due to audience demand, becoming the first play at The Abbey Theatre to run for more than one week. Its success encouraged O’Casey to quit his road repair job and became a full-time writer at age 44. The play wasn’t just a windfall for the playwright, the success of Juno and the Paycock and The Shadow of a Gunman saved The Abbey Theatre, which was at risk of bankruptcy before O’Casey’s arrival.
Set in 1922 during the Irish Civil War, Juno and the Paycock premiered in an embittered and deeply divided Ireland in March of 1924, less than a year after a ceasefire ended active conflict. Its immediacy to audiences of its time echoed that of The Shadow of a Gunman, set during the Irish War for Independence, which took place just two years before the play’s premiere. These two plays along with 1926’s The Plough and the Stars — set during the Easter Rebellion of 1916 — depict each major event of the Irish Revolutionary Period. Often called The Dublin Trilogy, the works chronicle the birth of the Irish nation through the eyes of Dublin’s impoverished tenement residents.
Due to its irreverent and critical approach to Irish nationalism and revolution, Juno and the Paycock was as controversial as it was popular. In the past 100 years, the play has lessened in controversy, but its popularity remains. Juno and the Paycock is now one of O’Casey’s most frequently performed and studied works. It has been adapted several times, including into a 1930 film by Alfred Hitchcock and a 1959 Broadway musical entitled Juno.